Advice needed -- UC west coast sale fares

Would welcome some advice, please! Looking to buy 4 UC tickets to SFO in November. Yesterday, I could get a pretty good Z fare, I think discounted to match BA's current sale.

Unfortunately, I didn't act and there's no longer any Z fares offered for my ideal dates, or a couple of days either side (all of which were available yesterday, for 4 pax). This is true for LAX as well as SFO which is perhaps a little curious.

I've just phoned the Au line, to place a hold on my second-choice dates, which I can currently get at the discounted rate. The agent informed me that there's no chance of further Z fare tickets being released on my first choice of dates.

How likely does this sound? I appreciate if the plane is actually pretty full now that it's perfectly likely -- but the sudden availability change, on so many dates, for a booking so far ahead makes me doubt it slightly. Or maybe that's just optimism! (Flight stats is showing Z9 but it's maybe a little out of date; sites like Expedia support the lack of Z availability).

So -- I appreciate no-one can predict exactly what will happen to ticket prices, and that I'm stupid for not booking when I had the chance. But, those points aside, would welcome any thoughts regarding the likelihood of more discounted UC inventory being released any time soon. (If it's relevant, BA still have sale price CW seats available, so VS selling I class UC is making them very uncompetitive!).

This kind of thing is almost impossible to predict!

Generally speaking I would say that when heavily discounted sale fares are exhausted, then they do not tend to release more (regardless of what BA is doing) -- in UC, at least. When it is not a sale situation, I think there is a slightly higher chance of more inventory being released, but in UC I again wouldn't hold out too much hope.

At least, that's my sense of how it works -- but I may well be wrong! It would be interesting to get a sense of what others think.

I should add that your point about the sudden change for a block of dates does seem curious. I've seen this kind of thing happen and you're never sure whether the seats have been booked or whether the inventory has been pulled. You say November - not half term by any chance?

I have also been monitoring west coast fares and was about to book VS November ex ARN to SFO as this was the cheapest routing yesterday at £1608 (z), today VS has shot up to £2500 (z) with BA remaining £1600 range. Also checked ARN-LAX & LAS and all VS fares have increased with BA remaining at the lower fare. Have seen this before and sometimes VS revenue teams have suddenly reduced the fares so I plan to hold out in the hope they do.

Thanks

I should add that your point about the sudden change for a block of dates does seem curious. I've seen this kind of thing happen and you're never sure whether the seats have been booked or whether the inventory has been pulled. You say November - not half term by any chance?

Thanks -- grateful for your thoughts. It's absolutely the suddenness of the change for a block of dates that I find odd. Makes it hard to believe that it really is the seats having been sold as opposed to the inventory being pulled.

I have also been monitoring west coast fares and was about to book VS November ex ARN to SFO as this was the cheapest routing yesterday at £1608 (z), today VS has shot up to £2500 (z) with BA remaining £1600 range. Also checked ARN-LAX & LAS and all VS fares have increased with BA remaining at the lower fare. Have seen this before and sometimes VS revenue teams have suddenly reduced the fares so I plan to hold out in the hope they do.

Thanks

Yup, that's exactly what I'm seeing.

Hoping that VS revenue teams might adjust inventory tomorrow, but if not I'll either need to secure my held booking for my second choice dates, or book BA CW for my first choice.

[honey lamb]

The other thing to remember is that when people are researching flights, it effectively puts a hold on the flight for a certain time to enable that flight to be booked and this can block up the system. Given that on Sunday afternoon more people are free to think about holidays. etc this can "empty" many of the cheaper buckets - especially when there is a sale on. This has happened to me on more than one occasion when Z fares have been non-existent but the following day, they have become available again.